With the housing business expecting to improve over the next few years, we can look forward to seeing legislation move towards home improvement contractors being more tightly licensed, especially when it comes to their contractor licensing bonds. One trend is that fewer and fewer states will allow a statewide home improvement contractors license. Most state boards are moving towards licensing for specific types of home improvement such as roofing, or making the licenses connected with a specific location or city.

Contractor Licensing Bonds Required

A good example of this is Iowa, which recently enacted legislation that would create a license and contractors licensing bonds requirement for sheet metal contractors. This will being these contractors into the fold with other home improvement contractor licensing requirements for the state. In Kansas they now require registration certification and a contractor licensing bond posting for anyone considering opening operations as a roofing contractor in the state.

In Oregon, contractors that assess home energy performance scores will need to have a contractors license and to obtain a surety bondin the amount of $10,000 in addition to fulfilling all the requirements of a home contractor for Oregon. In Texas and Oklahoma legislation was introduced to require roofing contractors to post surety bonds along with their new licensing requirements, but in both states the bill was fought and stopped.

More Surety Bond Changes

You can be sure that this is not the last you will hear about new contractor licensing bonds, however. In some states, the changes have been to remove surety bond requirements for licencing in related contractor businesses. For anyone that works as a radon mitigation or measurement professional in Kentucky, the surety bond requirements that were enacted last year have been revoked.

In addition, master plumbers and gas fitters in Alabama that were facing the possibility of new surety bond requirements for the coming year will be interested to hear that this bill has been defeated. The bill would have changed the current city and county bonds to a statewide bond. As noted earlier, that trend seems to be reversing itself as more and more states reject the concept of a statewide contractor surety bond requirement.

Auto dealer bonds and the requirements for dealership licenses continue to be a shifting requirement as legislative bills begin to look at more stringent requirements from dealerships. BuySurety can provide auto dealer bonds for any of the fifty states, including Texas auto dealer bonds, Oklahoma car dealer bonds and DMV bonds for Kansas auto dealers. As you can see from the listings below, states vary in who is required to provide an auto dealer bond as part of their licensing process. Here are the requirements for Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas auto dealerships.

Texas Auto Dealer Bonds

The Lone Star State has always been fiercely independent and all about wide open spaces. With its abundance of long dusty roads as well as busy state freeways it is no surprise that a car dealership is a popular enterprise for the area. The regulations for a DMC surety bond as part of the licensing may seem pretty much a simple deal, but the requirements tied to it mean any dealership should know their regulations well when applying for an auto dealer surety bond along with their license.

Texas Auto Dealer Bond Requirements:

Bond term begins on first day of the month and ends on last day of the month

Bond must be signed by the dealer or the dealer’s authorized representative

Bond must be signed by the bonding company or bonding agent

Texas Auto Dealer Surety Bond is good for:

A motor vehicle dealer

Wholesale Motor Vehicle Dealer

Wholesale Motor Vehicle Auction

Mobility Vehicle Dealer

Motorcycle Dealer, when not licensed as a franchised dealer with DMV

Oklahoma Auto Dealer Bonds

With its population spread across a large rural area, many would think that there is little call for auto dealerships in Oklahoma, but they would be wrong. The Sooner State has a growing need for auto dealerships and BuySurety can provide license surety bonds for Oklahoma dealerships as well as in any of the other 50 states. The requirements for a motor vehicle dealer bond in Oklahoma are fairly easy to follow and don’t have the multiple layers that many states seem to have.
Used Motor Vehicle Dealers are required to post a $15,000 Used Motor Vehicle Dealer Bond. The bond must expire on December 31st.

Kansas Auto Dealer Surety Bond Requirements

Kansas is another of those states that has managed to keep their car dealership licensing requirements as well as their auto dealer surety bond regulations fairly simple. In Kansas both new and used car dealers are required to post a surety bond as part of their licensing for the auto dealership. The surety bond licensing amount for each type of dealership is the same.